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Joshua Kusterer, age 12 of Boy Scout Troop 226 in Plano, TX salutes as the crowd recites the pledge of allegiance during the Save Our Scouts Prayer Vigil and Rally. Wednesday, February 6, 2013. Credit: AP
NEW YORK (TheBlaze/AP) -- With the Boy Scouts of America entangled in a furor over its ban on gays, lesser-known youth organizations across the ideological spectrum see an opportunity. They wonder if the turmoil might prompt some families to give them a closer look as options for their boys.
They range from Bible-based programs run by conservative religious organizations to coed, inclusive groups, including one founded on the basis of pagan beliefs.
None of the groups has the size or iconic status of the BSA, though some have been around for many decades.
Leaders of several of the groups, in public statements and interviews with The Associated Press, made clear they are following the Boy Scouts' predicament with interest and pondering possible ramifications for their own prospects -- though not seeking to profit from "someone else's misfortune," as one leader said.
The BSA, founded in 1910 and now serving about 2.66 million boys, is deliberating a possible shift in its long-standing policy of excluding gays as youth members or adult leaders.
In May, the BSA's 1,400-member National Council is expected to consider a proposal to ease the ban by allowing sponsors of local Scout units to decide for themselves whether to admit gays. Gay-rights groups say the plan is inadequate, and that no units should be allowed to discriminate, while some conservative religious leaders and advocacy groups want the ban to stay in place nationwide.
As a result, there has been consternation on both the left and right of the Scouting community, and warnings of possible defections depending on what decision is made in May. The Girl Scouts, too, have faced similar issues over conservatives' claims that the group leans left-of-center. The result has been alternative groups in the same vein.
For families that do seek an alternative to the Boy Scouts, here are some of the options.
The Southern Baptist Convention's Royal Ambassadors:
Founded in 1908, this is a program run by Southern Baptist churches for boys in first through sixth grade.
The SBC's Women's Missionary Union, which oversees the program, estimates that it has about 6,300 adult leaders and 31,000 youth members. Its curriculum shares many features with the Boy Scouts - including camping trips and model race-car competitions - but it also stresses a goal of providing boys with "godly characteristics" and a "biblical worldview."
Of the major religious denominations which sponsor large numbers of Boy Scout units, the Southern Baptists have been among the most outspoken in urging the BSA to keep the ban on gays.
The SBC's official news agency, Baptist Press, recently reported that the Royal Ambassador program might spread to more Southern Baptist churches if the BSA's ban is lifted.
In this Feb. 4, 2013 file photo James Oliver, left, hugs his brother and fellow Eagle Scout, Will Oliver, who is gay, as Will and other supporters carry four boxes filled with a petition in front of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters, in Dallas, Texas. For the next 14 weeks, the Boy Scouts of America will be the focus of prayers, petitions and pressure tactics aimed at swaying a planned vote by 1,400 Scout leaders on whether to ease the policy banning gays from membership. Credit: AP
The article quoted Don Hinkle, editor of the Missouri Baptist Convention's newspaper, as reminiscing fondly about his boyhood experience with the Royal Ambassadors.
"Perhaps in these sad, self-destructing days for the Boy Scouts of America, God will use RAs in a new and powerful way to bring honor and glory to Him," Hinkle told Baptist Press.
In addition to the Royal Ambassadors, the SBC also oversees the Challengers, a program for boys aged 12-17.
The Assemblies of God's Royal Rangers:
Founded in 1962 by one of the largest Pentecostal denominations, the Royal Rangers have about 81,000 youth members in about 4,000 units, according to church headquarters.
"We provide Christ-like character formation and servant leadership development for boys and young men in a highly relational and fun environment," says the Rangers' mission statement.
Every four years, the organization brings together several thousand boys and adult leaders for a "Camporama" at the Rangers' campground in Eagle Rock, Mo. Last summer's event featured a high-ropes course, two zip lines, a water slide, and a lumberjack show.
Like the Southern Baptists, the Assemblies of God considers homosexuality immoral and has urged the Boy Scouts not to lift the ban on gays. A statement to that effect, from the denomination's leader, has been posted on the Rangers' website.
"We are saddened and disappointed to hear that Boy Scouts of America, an organization long devoted to biblical values, is now considering loosening the principles in which it was founded," says the Rev. George O. Wood. "We pray the BSA will give careful consideration to this matter and hold firm to the beliefs that have made it a strong and influential organization for more than 100 years."
The Seventh-day Adventist Church's Pathfinders:
Dating back more than 60 years, the coed Pathfinders program serves about 35,000 boys and girls ages 10-15 in the U.S. and Canada, according to James Black, the church's director of youth ministries for North America.
Black said the program resembles the Boy Scouts in many respects, with an emphasis on camping, plus an array of honors and patches that the youth members can work for.
Unlike the Scouts, however, the Pathfinders operate as a church-based ministry, with a priority placed on community service. However, Black said boys and girls are welcome to join even if not from Seventh-day Adventist families.
Amid the Boy Scouts' turmoil, there's been an upsurge of inquiries from parents about possible participation in the Pathfinders, Black said.
"We don't want to gain off of someone else's misfortune - but we want to be there as an available option for healthy, meaningful programs," he said. "We wish the best for the Boy Scouts. ...Our hearts and prayers go out to them."
Founded in 1952, with a headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., this is a non-denominational but staunchly religious scouting-style program.
Office manager Kathy Door, said the corps currently serves about 9,900 boys in 550 clubs in the U.S. and Canada, with strong bases of support in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and the Pacific Coast.
"When someone who hasn't heard of us asks questions, we tell them we're sort of along the lines of Scouting but we are much more conservative," Door said. "There are Bible lessons at every meeting."
Clockwise from left, Boy Scouts Eric Kusterer, Jacob Sorah, James Sorah, Micah Brownlee and Cub Scout John Sorah hold signs at the Save Our Scouts Prayer Vigil and Rally in front of the Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters in Irving, Texas, Wednesday, February 6, 2013. The Boy Scouts of America said Wednesday it needed more time before deciding whether to move away from its divisive policy of excluding gays as scouts or adult leaders. Credit: AP
Most of the participants come from churches with Calvinist roots, such as the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church.
Door said the Cadet Corps was not trying to capitalize on the Boy Scouts' current predicament, but had received inquiries in recent days from leaders of several local Boy Scout units interested in learning more about the corps.
The Knights of Columbus' Columbian Squires:
This organization for Roman Catholic boys and young men ages 10-18 was founded in 1925 and claims a youth membership of more than 25,000, including some in units in Mexico and the Philippines.
The Squires, says the program's Web site, "is an athletic team, a youth group, a social club, a cultural and civic improvement association, a management training course, a civil rights organization and a spiritual development program all rolled into one."
Founded in 1910 as Camp Fire Girls of America, this organization changed its name and became coed in 1975. Boys now comprise almost half of its 300,000 youth participants, according to spokeswoman Catherine Lufkin.
While the Boy Scouts have drawn some criticism for excluding gays and atheists, Camp Fire stresses its inclusiveness and says it welcomes youth and families regardless of race, creed, gender, social status, disability or sexual orientation.
Lufkin said young people view Camp Fire's diversity as an asset and enjoy making friends who are different from themselves.
Scott Hines, scoutmaster for Troop 16 and his son Garrett, pray during a prayer vigil in the First Baptist Church Moores Lane in Texarkana, Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. Members of the troop, parents, and others prayed that the Boy Scouts of America would continue to keep their policy of excluding gay scouts and scoutmasters. The national executive board of the BSA began closed meetings on Monday to discus the policy. Credit: AP
Like the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts of the USA, and other major youth organizations, Camp Fire has seen its membership ranks decline in recent decades, though Lufkin said the numbers have stabilized in recent years.
Nonetheless, Camp Fire adopted a new logo last year and has striven to develop "rebranding" strategies to attract new participants.
"The hard truth is that the vast majority of parents and youth - from all walks of life - know nothing about us anymore," CEO Cathy Tisdale wrote in a newsletter last summer.
This alternative scouting organization has its roots in a Boy Scout troop based in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood and sponsored by the Unitarian Church of All Souls.
The troop broke away from the BSA in 2003 out of disagreement with the exclusionary membership policies, and some of the volunteer leaders decided to continue independently as a coed, inclusive movement.
The group's growth outside New York was slow at first, but founder and executive director Robin Bossert says the number of chapters has surged from 16 to 42 in the past year, with an average of about a dozen youths per unit. He attributes the growth in part to the controversies surrounding the Boy Scouts.
Bossert said Navigators USA emphasizes outdoor activities - "to combat nature-deficit disorder" - as well as community service projects.
The Baden-Powell Service Association:
The BPSA was founded in 2008 by David Atchley of Washington, Mo., who as a leader of his son's Cub Scout pack had a rift with regional BSA leaders over his efforts to adopt a nondiscrimination code.
Atchley, a software engineer, said the BPSA has grown steadily in the past two years, from just a handful of units to 19 now, ranging from Kingston, N.Y., and Exeter, N.H., to Albuquerque, N.M., and Sunnyvale, Calif.
Like the Navigators, the group is coed, with an inclusive membership policy, and Atchley says the contrast with the Boy Scouts has been a factor in its growth.
A detial view of a Boy Scout uniform on February 4, 2013 in Irving, Texas. The BSA national council announced they were considering to leave the decision of inclusion of gays to the local unit level. U.S. President Barack Obama urged the organization to end a ban on gays. Credit: Getty Images
The organization takes its name from Robert Baden-Powell, whose initiatives in Britain in starting in 1907 launched the international Scouting movement.
Atchley said the BPSA, inspired by its namesake, focuses on outdoor skills and community service.
"It's back to basics, instead of broadening the program to appeal to everybody under the sun," he said, referring to the Boy Scouts' efforts to modernize and diversify their activities.
This coed organization originated in 2001 at the Aquarian Tabernacle Church in Index, Wash., which serves a Wiccan community
Though developed on the basis of pagan beliefs and practices, it is open to youth and families of any faith - or no religious affiliation. Its units are known as circles; it also welcomes individual families who are designated as "hearths."
Spokeswoman Rachel Scott said the U.S. component comprises about 150 adult volunteers and 350 youth scouts, ages 3-18, in 45 circles and hearths.
The mix of genders is a key principle, according to the group's Web site.
"Our program encourages girls and boys to learn, play, and work together under the direction of leaders of both genders as a way of showing by example that both men and women are capable and cooperative leaders," it says.
SpiralScouts has gone public with its disapproval of the Boy Scouts' membership policies, offering to extend its highest rank to Eagle Scouts who have returned their badges to the BSA in protest over those policies.


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Vernis À Lèvres - Summer Look 2019
Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain combines the texture and shine of a gloss with the lo ... Read full description
May we suggest
Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain combines the texture and shine of a gloss with the long-wear of a stain for a truly innovative lip product. A lightweight texture that immediately melts onto lips. Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain delivers intense glossy colour for an extremely long lasting new kind of shine. The applicator's unique slanted tip and short soft bristles allow for flawless application with perfect precision.
How to use:
Apply one coat on the center of the lips and brush towards the outer corners.
Apply two coats using the outer curved side of the applicator, then dab on the formula generously over lips.
Octyldodecanol, Butyloctyl Salicylate, Stearyl/Ppg-3 Myristyl Ether Dimer Dilinoleate, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Polyethylene, Cera Microcristallina (Microcrystalline Wax), Polybutene, Propylene Glycol Dibenzoate, Hydrogenated Coco-Glycerides, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Titanium Dioxide, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Parfum (Fragrance), Caprylyl Glycol, Aqua (Water), Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Mannitol , Polyurethane-15, Acacia Senegal Gum, Glyceryl Stearate, Lecithin, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Butylene Glycol, Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) Extract , Yeast (Faex) Extract , Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Root Extract, Retinyl Palmitate, Citric Acid [+/- May Contain: Ci 77019 (Mica), Ci 77491 (Iron Oxide), Ci 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Ci 15850 (Red 7), Ci 15850 (Red 6), Ci 45410 (Red 28 Lake), Ci 77492 (Iron Oxide), Silica, Ci 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), Ci 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), Ci 17200 (Red 33 Lake), Ci 75470 (Carmine), Ci 12085 (Red 36), Ci 77499 (Iron Oxide), Ci 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake), Ci 77742 (Manganese Violet), Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Ci 73360 (Red 30), Synthetic Fluorphlogopite.

subset: commoncrawl


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I have to admit that my urban homestead boot camp has been a bit of a blogging boot camp for me as well. I've written more in the last two months than I have pretty much ever, and it's been a great outlet that I've really enjoyed. And my readership is up as well, which is always fun for me and also amazing, since I am always surprised that people want to read what I'm saying. So welcome to all of you new readers! Also, I plan on doing a bit of blog maintenance this week, so if you see anything weird, mid change, please bear with me.
I wanted to do an update on my progress with the Independence Days challenge. I've kept pretty good track on my sidebar, but sometimes I forget a few things here or there. So for the last month, this is where we're at:
Plant Something: Planting is on the horizon here for us. We have seeds and I'm planning on starting some inside (perhaps this week?) but now we're just waiting on the weather.
Harvest Something: One whole egg. I'm pretty sure we have more than one egg eater, and I know one hen is in full molt right now. And one is five years old. So the lack of eggs, while not totally surprising, is completely frustrating. I've heard from a few people on Facebook that we're not the only ones in Colorado experiencing this, that it has something to do with our whacked out weather, but in five years of raising chickens, this is the first time we've been completely dry. Especially this late in the winter. So we have some culling to do in the near future and some replacements waiting in the wings:
Preserve Something: While we were all sick a couple weeks back, Rick dug the Thanksgiving turkey carcass out of the freezer and made up some stock (and some soup). 8 cups went into the freezer. Other than that though, we've mainly been depleting it, and not adding to it. 😉
Waste Not: Scraps given to the chickens and compost pile. Also, a few months back I salvaged a small nightstand /dresser thingy and a book shelf that was going into the local preschool's dumpster (why???). Rick has been refinishing them. The nightstand is solid wood and is cleaning up beautifully. I wish I had done before/after pictures. The book-case is both wood and wood-veneer. It'll probably end up getting painted.
Want Not: I bought a couple of pairs of pants from the thrift shop, as well as a hurricane for my oil lamp. We have a case of pasta on order that I should be getting this week or next. Also, some angel friends dropped by some clothes for C last night, unexpectedly. I'm so grateful for gifts like that, out of thin air. I'm glad we found out that other friends of ours are having a baby girl, so we can pay that blessing forward.
Eat the Food: Due to some payroll mix ups, we got to take full advantage of our freezer and pantry this month. Rick got what we thought was some extra bonus money at the beginning of the month. It turns out that payroll had made a mistake and then just took the difference out of his check two weeks later… after we had already used it to pay off some debt. So we had two very lean weeks, income wise. Thankfully we really didn't feel much of a pinch, since we had the food stored. We ate a bit more meat than we usually do, and a few less fresh vegetables. But we by no means suffered through it. From the pantry we had spaghetti squash, pickles, strawberry jam, peach-plum ginger jam, white pumpkin, dried tomatoes, peach preserves, plum noir jam, red beans and chick peas, rice, more pickles, pasta, popcorn, nuts…. and from the freezer, we enjoyed elk chili, elk steak, green chiles, elk stew meat, asparagus, the turkey bones for soup, elk for stir fry, green peppers, elk chili again, ground elk, elk steaks, more tomatoes, lots of peaches for tarts and cobblers and smoothies, frozen corn… and I'm sure more.
Build Community Food Systems: At the beginning of the month we hosted our first monthly potluck. My hope in doing this monthly is to, number one, build community, and number two, share resources. The first one had a small crowd, but we enjoyed it a lot and are looking forward to the next one on the 9th with, hopefully, more people. 😉
Skill Up: We've been chomping at the bit for spring to get here. In the mean time, I've read up on fan training fruit trees, and I bought a grow light, since I've determined that the natural light we get in the house has been insufficient for starting seeds. Now I have to figure out how to build some adjustable height stand thingy for the light. Heh. And, Rick has been doing the aforementioned refinishing, which is new to him.
So that is the summary for the month. If you've been doing the Independence Days challenge this year, what have you been accomplishing?


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Home Projects Under $20
Ingenuity and imagination is all it takes to repurpose household items into attractive home decor.
Creative bulletin board
Make a bulletin board from the drawer of an old dresser. Paint the drawer, then cut corkboard to fit the inside and glue in place. Cover with pretty paper. You'll have a place to pin favorite items as well as a new display shelf!
Botanical prints
Make your own botanical prints by scanning leaves, printing, and placing in inexpensive frames. Ferns make lovely wall art-and autumn leaves are a great accent in the fall!
Sitting pretty
Doll up your desk with these fun jars. Use scallop-edge scissors to cut scrapbooking paper into strips. Tape the ends to form a cylinder that fits snugly inside the jar.
Clip-on pattern
A pair of $4 cloth napkins gains new purpose as cafe curtains when hung from a tension rod. Switch them out throughout the year for a quick refresh.
Magnetic appeal
A simple tray becomes a pretty magnetic board when lined with contact paper. You could glue on wallpaper or scrapbooking paper, too.
Cork board
Put old wine corks to use in a clever message board. Choose a frame deep enough to house whole corks, or cut the corks lengthwise using an extra-fine razor saw (available at hobby stores). Attach the corks to the frame backing with wood glue.
Rock bottom
Keep wet boots off hardwood floors with a shoe tray. Make your own with an inexpensive plastic serving tray lined with colorful glass beads or polished rocks.
Canned goods
Cans and paint add clever storage. Clean and spray-paint cans in coordinating colors. Arrange them geometrically or whimsically, attaching each to the wall with a single screw through the bottom or with heavy-duty wall-mounting tape.
Pot pizzazz
Revitalize terra-cotta flowerpots with a coat of bright paint and some rub-on accents. We used scrapbooking stickers to add playful patterns to our containers.
Keys to success
Repurpose an old drawer for storage that's not out of sight. Screw cup hooks into the bottom of the drawer, then hang on the wall on a large sawtooth picture hanger.
Sweet switcheroo
It's simple to change out art when it's held in a clipboard. Amp up the impact by hot-gluing on rhinestones, fake pearls, buttons-any tiny objects that match your style.
Book shelf
Mount two brackets to the wall and perch a favorite read on top to make a "book" shelf! Change out the book with your mood or the season, or secure it with strong glue as a permanent shelf.
Potting time
Insert an air plant in an old creamer (and toy milk pail!) for teatime decor. Chipped or cracked teacups and pots work as planters, too.
Multishade photo display
Give photo mats a little flair with paint strips; they offer graduated shades of one color for a pretty ombre effect. Muted purples, for example, blend well with black-and-white scenes. Using double-sided tape, attach strips to mats. Trim to fit. For the narrow top and bottom borders, we cut out individual paint chips.
Charging station
Drill a hole into the back of an antique box or chest. Insert a power strip then cover it with a wood shelf with holes for charging cords. Shut the lid when you want to conceal the functional aspect.
The art of organizing
A series of old frames-paint them all one color to unify the look-becomes the basis for an organizing system. Insert pegboard, painted cork, or wood wearing a coat of chalkboard or magnetic paint.
Tower of treats
Two old wine glasses and three pretty plates make for a display stand for sweets. Use Poster Putty to secure the glasses if you don't want this to be permanent.
Under wraps
Break out decorative scarves for a quick and easy spruce-up. We tied scarves into a simple knot around vases and added coordinating flowers for an inexpensive centerpiece.
Worldly pieces
Reimagine an old globe as a new centerpiece. Split a globe in half and fill it with flowers or other collections-we used pinecones, acorns, seedpods, small pumpkins and bittersweet. Elevate on a short candlestick or small serving dish as a centerpiece.
Framed souvenirs with chalkboard paint
For art that acts as a memory keeper, remove the glass of readymade frames and paint the backboard with blue chalkboard paint (this color is Benjamin Moore 2057-40 Ash Blue). Hot-glue on found vacation treasures. Label them with state names or personal notes written in chalk to identify where or how you found each item.
Draped headboard
Bring new life to an old or plain headboard with a pop of color and texture from a piece of fabric or area rug. The fabric brings together a room's color scheme or adds a pop of color.
Tray chic
Personalize a party tray with decorative paper. Use scrapbooking scissors to cut a circle of gift wrap slightly smaller than the tray's bottom. Laminate the circle (or ask a copy shop to do it for you).
Mossy finish
Highlight a favorite dish by adding some greenery for a fresh centerpiece. Cut green florist's foam to fit inside a wooden trough (or any dish). Cover foam with moss that's been soaked for about 15 minutes and then squeezed to remove excess water. To help the moss last longer, spray it with water every other day.
DIY Frames
Create cute circular frames using old place mats. Choose a collection of photos to complement the mats. Glue or tape a photo to the center of each mat, and use removable adhesive squares to hang the finished pieces.
Crafty cuff
Create a curtain tieback with pretty gift-wrap paper. Cut paper to size, and then embellish the edges using scallop-edge scissors. Laminate the strip (or ask copy shop to do it for you), and scallop the edges wider than the paper. Punch holes at each end and, if desired, ad grommets. Use ribbon to hold the tieback in place.
Faux-texture tabletop
A side table gets artistic with a mix of large paint chips on top. For a sophisticated neutral scheme, choose shades of beige, brown and sand. Mix in samples of techniques (like Venetian plaster) for one-dimensional texture. Attach with double-sided tape, leaving space (ours is 1⁄2 inch) between chips. Cover with glass to protect.
Paint (On table) EB24-1 Chestnut. Valspar Eddie Bauer Home collection. Lowe's (800) 445-6937; lowes.com Paint chips Assorted neutrals from Valspar Waverly Home Classics; assorted Valspar Venetian Plaster chips. Lowe's (800) 445-6937; lowes.com Table Ikea (888) 888-4532; ikea.com
Place mat parade
For fun (and inexpensive) wall art, pick up some stylish place mats. Drill or punch two holes at the top of each place mat. Connect them with a ball-link chain or string for lighter mats. Two nails at the top offer almost invisible hanging.
Desktop organizer
This flea-market find-a sugar mold-makes a perfect workspace organizer. It's deep enough to store scissors, a hole punch and other office necessities.
Accessory art
Jewelry becomes a fun and colorful accessory for the dressing table. Display your bangles on covered glass pedestals, transforming things you wear into high art.
Out of the box
Pair old jewelry and photo frames for a creative display. Gather several small coordinating frames, and cover the frames' cardboard inserts with decorative paper. Center necklaces in frame.
Button up
Add whimsy to a plain piece of furniture with a simple button design. We used mother-of-pearl buttons to complement this nightstand's color. Use strong adhesive such as Liquid Nails to attach buttons in free form pattern or graphic shape.
Doorknob decor
Glass, marble or metal doorknobs make fun clothes or curtain hooks.Another idea for doorknobs: Turn them into a picture holder. Attach two or three to a wall and prop a picture frame between the knobs and the wall.


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Get Moving with Sketchy Physics, PDF
Make models that move! This book teaches the basics of using the free Sketchy Physics plugin, to make SketchUp objects that fall, fly, slide, spin, turn, crash, bounce, and more. Note: Sketchy Physics currently works with SketchUp 8, not with later versions.
Assembling a Lego Robot in Google SketchUp
This step-by-step tutorial shows how to assemble a robot model in Google SketchUp, using Lego Technics pieces.
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A Step-by-Step, How-To Guide for Starting a Business
The Startup Roadmap sponsored by FedEx outlines each step in starting a business with information and resources on the most difficult tasks. It also contains tips for working "With Your Mentor" on each topic.
Are You Ready to Start Your Business?
The path to business ownership is an exciting journey. As you embark on your journey, you need a few things to successfully reach your destination. First and foremost, you need a good roadmap or GPS to successfully navigate your way.
The Startup Roadmap, sponsored by FedEx, guides your journey, from your business idea through opening your doors to customers.
Whatever startup route lies ahead of you, the Startup Roadmap provides direction along the way. It will help you chart a course to success, minimizing detours and dead ends so you can get to your goal faster.
This Roadmap will take you from the initial step of defining your business idea through your ultimate destination: launching your business. In each chapter, we'll teach you what you need to do and give you the resources and expertise you need to get it done.
The program is flexible, letting you make the business startup journey your own, focusing more on some chapters and less on others. It eliminates fear and intimation and offers a clear vision of how to achieve your business startup goals—especially if you work on it with a SCORE mentor. Entrepreneurs who work with a mentor are five times more likely to start a business than those who do not have a mentor.
Wherever you are in your startup process, SCORE can help.
The Startup Roadmap includes these 12 chapters, but you do not have to take them all:
The Startup Roadmap Chapter 1: Starting Your Journey
Congratulations on taking the first step towards starting your business! Even though many steps lie ahead, our Startup Roadmap can guide you along the journey. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 2 - Are You Ready to Start a Business?
In chapter 2 of the Startup Roadmap, you'll conduct a thorough self-assessment to confirm that you have what it takes to start a business. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 3 - Defining and Validating Your Idea
In the third chapter of the Startup Roadmap, you'll define your business idea in detail by completing SCORE's "Simple Steps for Starting Your Business" program. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 4 - Business Plan or Business Model Canvas?
In the fourth chapter of the Startup Roadmap, you'll create a business plan that maps out a detailed blueprint for getting to your goal of owning a business. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 5 - Finding Funding
In chapter 5 of the Startup Roadmap, you'll assess how much money you can contribute and how much you'll need to get from outside sources for your startup. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 6 - Setting Up Your Business
In this sixth chapter of the Startup Roadmap, you'll take the first, exciting steps toward making your business plan a reality. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 7 - Accounting, Insurance, and Legal Considerations
In chapter 7 of the SCORE Startup Roadmap, you'll establish your administrative and operational structure and processes. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 8 - Marketing Your Business
Chapter 8 of the SCORE Startup Roadmap details how to market your business and find your first customers. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 9 - Pricing, Sales, and Distribution
Are you confused on how to price, sell and distribute your products or services for your startup? Watch chapter 9 of the Startup Roadmap for tips. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 10 - Setting Up Your Physical Location
Choosing your startup company's brick-and-mortar location is a crucial decision. Watch chapter 10 of the Startup Roadmap for tips. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 11 - Staffing Your Business
In chapter 11 of the Startup Roadmap, you'll think through the costs and benefits of hiring workers, either employees, independent contractors or both. Read moreView Course
The Startup Roadmap: Chapter 12 - Open for Business
In the last chapter of the Roadmap, you'll prepare for your grand opening and learn important steps to keep your business running smoothly in its first year. Read moreView Course
Each chapter of the Startup Roadmap contains:
- Steps to Success: A series of steps you complete in order to move on to the next chapter. Each step contains concrete, actionable tasks to complete, as well as information to help you. Some steps include recommended homework; your mentor may recommend additional work.
- With Your Mentor: This section provides suggested topics you can discuss with your mentor. This might include questions you can ask or recommendations on what types of mentors might be best to help you with the current topic.
- Resources: Information and resources, including tools, templates, and online workshops, to help you learn more or complete the steps in that chapter.
To reach your destination faster, work on the Startup Roadmap with a SCORE mentor.
Like an experienced tour guide, your SCORE mentor can point out things you might otherwise miss, offer insider suggestions and shortcuts, and help you make the most of your journey.
If you dream of business ownership and want clear directions to reach your destination successfully, start the SCORE Startup Roadmap today. And if you work with a SCORE mentor, you don't have to travel alone.
Mentor Tim Douglas with client Dena Schaffer Krebs of Creations Reimagined
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Open Thread: Technical Difficulties
My Macintosh's brick just blew, so with the last few minutes of power I have I'll let you know that I won't be posting until Tuesday night (I hope) when I'll be back in Maryland and I'll be able to get to an Apple store. Until then, discuss amongst yourselves.
July 8, 2007 Posted by John Armstrong | Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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This post was originally published on February 4, 2007.
As I stake out my position on the couch this evening – close enough to reach the pretzels and my beer, but with an optimal view of the TV – it will be nice to imagine that the spectacle about to unfold is a sporting event. It shouldn't be too hard: after all, there on the screen will be the field, Brian Urlacher stretching out his quads, Peyton Manning tossing a football, referees in their freshly-starched zebra uniforms milling about. Yes, I'll think to myself, this has all the makings of a football game.
How foolish.
The Super Bowl isn't about sports; it's about making money. And with 90 million or so viewers, there is a lot of money to be made.
With CBS charging an estimated $2.6 million for each 30-second advertising spot, it's no surprise that corporations don't mess around with guessing what the most effective approach will be for selling their products. They call in the scientists.
For the second year in a row, FKF Applied Research has partnered with the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, to "measure the effect of many of the Super Bowl ads by using fMRI technology." The research involves "track[ing] the ads on a host of dimensions by looking for activity in key parts of the brain areas that are known to be involved in wanting, choosing, sexual arousal, fear, indecision and reward." As the FKF website explains, why this research is useful to Fortune 100 companies is that it
shows clearly that what people say in focus groups and in response to poll questions is not what they actually think, feel and do. fMRI scans using our analytical methods allow us to see beyond self report and to understand the emotions and thoughts that are driving (or impeding) behavior.
Looking beyond the spoken word provides immense and actionable insights into a brand, a competitive framework, advertising and visual images and cues.
As it turns out, "brand" lives in a particular place in the human brain:
[W]hen [FKF] did an academic study on the impact of iconic brands, such as Pepsi and Coke and McDonalds, [they] found that the same part of the brain lit up over images of sports logos – say, for the NBA or NFL. There is a clear connection in the human brain between the anticipation of eating that you get from, say, the Coke logo and with the NBA logo.
For someone like me, who has always wondered why I feel so hungry reading the sports page, this is interesting stuff. For a corporate CEO, this is extremely interesting – and actionable – stuff. For everyone else . . . this is a reason to be concerned.
Corporations are using science to figure out how our brains work so they can sell more products and what they are finding is that our brains don't work the way we think they do.
Anticipating this worry, FKF has an Ethics tab on its website:
We are committed to the highest level of ethical behavior in conducting our work. We are determined to be diligent in carving out a new field, and being a leader and advocate in ensuring the best interests of our subjects, the public, and our clients are protected. . . . We believe that wide dissemination about how people make decisions will empower all concerned – both consumers and purveyors of information. Such information, freely discussed in a democracy, will allow us to understand better how marketing is affecting us, discredit manipulation, promote communication, and help illuminate a process that fundamentally shapes the lives of human beings.
Sounds good – in fact, it sounds like situationism, and I have no reason to think that the founders of FKF, or the university scientists with whom they work, aren't upstanding citizens with good moral compasses. It's just that I'm still uneasy.
Corporations don't exactly have a good track record when it comes to learning counterintuitive information about human decision making and then using it responsibly. Rather, the best approach for maximizing shareholder profit is to discover some seemingly-illogical detail about the human brain, use that knowledge to sell more widgets, and then convince the public that their naïve (and incorrect) beliefs about how they make choices are, in fact, correct.
Take big tobacco: as Jon Hanson and others have documented, after figuring out that nicotine was addictive and could compel people to buy Marlboros, cigarette companies made a concerted effort to both up nicotine concentrations in their products and convince people, through advertising, that they were rational actors who were not easily manipulated. From the perspective of an entity that is charged, through our legal rules, with making money (and not with doing social good), it makes little sense to alter peoples' situations to get them to be better consumers and then tell them that you are doing it and that it matters.
Why, that would be as silly as announcing a weak-side blitz to the quarterback before the play. Sure, it would be the nice, ethical thing to warn decent gentlemen like Manning and Rex Grossman of the imminent threat, but it's not part of the game we've developed. Football is a game where you can get blind-sided.
As corporations and our brains make certain, so is watching football.
* * *
(To read about the results of a brain-scan study of men and women watching the 2006 Super Bowl by UCLA neuroscientist Marco Iacobini, click here. To listen to a recent one-hour NPR (On Point) program on "The Changing World of Advertising," click here.)


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US, Europe considering sanctions on Kiev leaders
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS — Following the deadly clashes in Ukraine's capital, the Obama administration and European governments are talking about imposing punitive sanctions, the Kremlin has blamed the West for stirring up trouble and the pope has issued a special appeal for peace. A roundup of Wednesday's international reactions:
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed "shock and utter dismay" at the violence that erupted Tuesday in Kiev, blaming Ukraine's political leadership and predicting the 28-nation EU will impose sanctions as a result.
"We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency," Barroso said in a statement.
The Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the West for the escalation of violence and called on the Ukrainian opposition to work with the government to find an exit from the crisis. It said the West has fueled the violence by failing to clearly condemn the radicals who attacked police.
"What's going on is the direct result of the policy of connivance on behalf of Western politicians and European structures, which from the very start of the crisis have turned a blind eye to the aggressive actions of radical forces in Ukraine, encouraging them to engage in escalation and provocations against the legitimate government," it said.
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia views the developments in Ukraine as a "coup attempt." He denied Putin was giving Yanukovych any advice on how to handle the crisis, and said it is up to the Ukrainian government to determine the course of action to defuse the crisis.
The Obama administration raised the prospect of joining partners in Europe to impose sanctions against Ukraine. Secretary of State John Kerry, in Paris for meetings with the French foreign minister and other officials, said he was disturbed by the level of abuse demonstrated by the Ukrainian government and protesters.
"We are talking about the possibility of sanctions or other steps in order to create the atmosphere for compromise," Kerry said. He said the situation is bad but that there's room for dialogue and that it's up Yanukovych to decide the future of his country
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, was en route to a summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. He likely will comment publicly on the situation later Wednesday, Ben Rhodes, a deputy U.S. national security adviser, told reporters on Air Force One.
"We continue to watch events very closely ... and we've made clear that we will consider taking actions against individuals who are responsible for acts of violence within Ukraine," Rhodes said. "We have a tool kit for doing that that includes sanctions."
Rhodes said there was still time for the Ukrainian government to avoid sanctions or other punishment by pulling back its "riot police," respecting people's right to protest peacefully, releasing protesters who have been arrested and pursuing a "serious dialogue" with the opposition about how to unify the country.
GERMANY and FRANCE
At a joint news conference in Paris, French President Francois Hollande vowed that those who started the deadly violence in Ukraine "will be sanctioned," while German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the need for dialogue "because only political dialogue can really bring political progress"
Hollande said the sanctions to be considered by EU foreign ministers must be "targeted, specific and gradual to weigh on the process" of ending violence. They must be aimed at those who started the "intolerable acts," he said, adding that identifying those responsible takes time, raising the question of whether immediate EU measures are feasible.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters that he and his counterparts from Germany and Poland would travel to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian government officials and opposition leaders before the EU meeting Thursday. Poland's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, posted on Twitter that he was already en route for Ukraine's capital.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a Twitter post on Wednesday: "We must be clear: Ultimate responsibility for deaths and violence is with President Yanukovych. He has blood on his hands."
Pope Francis issued an appeal for peace in Ukraine at the end of his general audience on Wednesday, speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square. "With a troubled soul, I am following what is happening these days in Kiev," he said. "I assure my closeness to the Ukrainian people and pray for the victims of the violence, for their relatives and for the injured. I invite all sides to stop any violent action and to look for harmony and peace in the country."
Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino joined European colleagues in a renewed appeal to Ukrainian authorities for the end of "violent, indiscriminate and disproportional reactions to people's protests, which must be carried out peacefully, within the confines of legality." If violence continues, he said, "we don't exclude the recourse to exceptional restrictive measures."
The government said it was in favor of EU sanctions against Kiev. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Ukraine's president should be one of those targeted.
"Mr. Yanukovych is a key government representative of Ukraine," Sobotka said.
Romanian President Traian Basescu warned the protests in Ukraine could spread instability throughout the region, particularly in neighboring Moldova.
"I want you to understand that the destabilization of Ukraine is not serious just for Romania, but the whole of Europe will be affected," Basescu said, adding that he had passed on his concerns to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Barroso, the EU commission president.
Basescu also said Romania would be willing to take in refugees from the crisis.
Members of the parliament, based in Strasbourg, France, adopted a non-binding resolution urging EU member nations to prepare sanctions such as freezing assets of "Ukrainian officials, legislators and oligarchs personally responsible for the attacks on and deaths of protesters."
Canada closed its embassy in Kiev after protesters entered the building on Tuesday amid the violent crackdown outside.
Adam Hodge, a spokesman for Canada's foreign affairs minister, said Wednesday the embassy would be closed until further notice as a security precaution, and to ensure the protection of staff. Canada has also threatened sanctions.


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The Walking Dead: Is The Governor Going to Die?
[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Sunday's episode ofThe Walking Dead and the comics that the AMC series is based on. Read at your own risk.]
The Walking Dead may have already tipped its hand.
The return of The Governor (David Morrissey) has brought the group full circle to the events of last season: Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group are severely weakened and the dastardly former leader of Woodbury has come knocking at their door. But where The Governor's assault on the prison last season was subpar to the comics, this time around, the comics could actually be driving the storyline much closer than some eagle-eyed viewers may have realized.
The Walking Dead: Can The Governor be a good guy?
Before the season debuted, showrunner Scott Gimple told TVGuide.com that the new season would include scenes more closely tied to the comics. "There's so many moments from the comic book this season that anybody that's read the comic will recognize and it will be in these different contexts," he said. Co-star Lauren Cohan echoed that sentiment, revealing that some scenes were identical to comic book panels from Robert Kirkman's graphic novel.
So far, these moments have yet to be seen. So could Sunday's midseason finale (9/8c, AMC) actually be the assault on the prison that comic book fans have been waiting for? One of the most glaring clues is the tank sitting in The Governor's new community, which makes an appearance in the trailer for the midseason finale in a scene that appears to be pulled directly from a comic panel.
If that part of our theory is true, it stands to reason that the other part will be also: The Governor is going to die in the midseason finale. In the comics, when The Governor attacks the prison, among his group is a woman named Lilly - the very same name of the woman (played by Audrey Marie Anderson) that the TV show's Governor has been courting in recent episodes. It's her presence that may hint at The Governor's ultimate fate.
Major comics spoiler alert: In the comics, Lilly shoots Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and baby Judith before turning the gun on The Governor, killing him because she was distraught over what he made her do. It seems plausible that if placed in a similar position - minus murdering Lori since she already died last season - this Lilly would not be too happy when she learns the truth about what kind of man The Governor really is. Would she kill him to prevent more bloodshed?
The Walking Dead recruits Greek alum for major role
Here's hoping, because Lori and baby Judith aren't the only causalities from The Governor's assault on the prison. However, we've shared enough comic book spoilers here already, so you'll have to dig those names up on your own!
Do you think The Governor is going to die? It would be a great way for the show to not repeat last season's somewhat lackluster attack on the prison. Let's just hope that old Guvna' at least gets to use his trademark line - "Kill them all!" - before that happens.
The Walking Dead's midseason finale airs Sunday at 9/8c on AMC. Do you think The Governor will bite the dust?
View original The Walking Dead: Is The Governor Going to Die? at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
- The Walking Dead recruits Greek alum for major role
- The Walking Dead: Can The Governor be a good guy?
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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'Stand your ground' law tested in recent shootings
HELENA, Mont. — A Montana man is accused of setting a trap and blindly blasting a shotgun into his garage, killing a 17-year-old German exchange student. A Minnesota man is convicted of lying in wait in his basement for two teenagers and killing them during a break-in.
The two recent cases take the "stand your ground" debate to a new level: Do laws that allow private citizens to protect their property also let them set a trap and wait for someone to kill?
"We don't want it to be easy to be able to prosecute people. But we want to be able to hold individuals accountable when they have stepped outside the bounds of society," David LaBahn, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said Wednesday.
Most of these changes have come since Florida in 2005 became the first state to interpret the "castle doctrine" to apply outside the home with a measure known as the "stand your ground" law.
These laws make it far easier for a person to shoot someone and avoid prosecution by saying they felt an imminent danger — whether or not the person who was shot was armed.
The principle came under national scrutiny in the 2012 shooting of an unarmed Florida teenager, Trayvon Martin, by a neighborhood watch volunteer who was following the 17-year-old. George Zimmerman was acquitted last year after arguing self-defense.
The Montana and Minnesota cases involve homeowners who had been burglarized and said they were afraid of it happening again. Prosecutors say they lured intruders into fatal encounters.
In Montana, Markus Kaarma told investigators his Missoula home had been burglarized twice within the last week before Sunday's shooting death of 17-year-old Diren Dede. Kaarma told his hairdresser he had stayed up three nights waiting to shoot a kid, the woman told investigators.
The night of the shooting, Kaarma and his partner, Janelle Pflager, left their garage door open. Pflager left her purse in the garage "so that they would take it," she told a police officer. She also set up a video baby monitor and installed motion sensors, prosecutors said.
After midnight, they heard the sensors trip. Pflager turned to the video monitor and saw a man in the garage. Kaarma took his shotgun, walked out the front door and to the driveway.
He told investigators he heard metal on metal and without speaking fired four times — sweeping the garage with three low shots and a high fourth shot. Dede was hit in the head and the arm.
Montana's law says a person is justified in using deadly force if they believe it necessary to prevent an assault or a forcible felony.
Since it passed in 2009, the law has been raised at least a dozen times in Montana cases. In several, it was the reason prosecutors decided against filing charges.
Kaarma attorney Paul Ryan said he intends to use that law as a defense in his client's deliberate homicide charge. That shifts the burden to prosecutors, who will have to prove their case and that deadly force wasn't justified, he said.
Kaarma didn't intend to kill Dede, Ryan said. "He was scared for his life. It shouldn't be up to a homeowner to wait and see if (an intruder) is going to shoot him when he announces himself," he said.
Because the laws typically leave it up to the shooter to decide if a danger exists, prosecutors often have no way to challenge such a claim. LaBahn said the case in Missoula appeared to reflect the same concerns raised repeatedly by prosecutors in Florida.
"It doesn't sound to me that a reasonable person is going to shoot through a garage door," LaBahn said.
He added there could be mitigating factors yet to emerge in the exchange student's death.
Minnesota law allows the use of deadly force in a home to prevent a felony, but it must be considered a reasonable response.
Byron Smith, a 65-year-old retiree, unsuccessfully used that defense to justify his shooting of Nick Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 18, after the cousins broke into his Little Falls home in 2012. Smith's attorney said his client's home had been burglarized, and he was afraid.
Smith was convicted of premeditated murder Tuesday. Prosecutors said Smith moved his truck to make it look as though no one was home. He turned on a handheld recorder, had a surveillance system running and waited in the basement with food, water and two guns.


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Bonnie Marris has taken an unusual path into art; she developed her talent by portraying animals "from the inside out." While she was a student at Michigan State University, Bonnie illustrated several major books. One volume she worked on was a leading expert s mammalogy text that contained several hundred drawings and detail studies. This massive project attracted the attention of noted zoologist George Schaller, who invited Bonnie to prepare the art for posters that would support his worldwide rare animal relief programs. Beyond academic training and emotional involvement, art requires another element for which there is no substitute: experience. Each year, Bonnie makes two major trips, and countless smaller ones, to observe and learn about the wildlife she loves. In 1980, one such voyage took her to Alaska, where she lived in the wilderness for six months. She recounts, "To get into a natural environment and see the animals on their own terms is as important as knowing the animals themselves. For instance, gray wolves on the tundra—the vast, vast tundra with the wind and other forces of nature at their most extreme—that s what makes them what they are. To stand not far from a grizzly that is so overpowering, so beautiful and so large . . . to watch it pull up a small tree with a swipe of its paw and just a few minutes later see it delicately picking blueberries with its black lips. . . Alaska changed me; it gave me the biggest incentive to paint and increased my interest in the predators: the cats, bears, coyotes, wolves and foxes. They exist on so many levels. Their moods show in their eyes and we can learn so much from them."


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One week before Valentine's Day, Jessica Pauline Ogilvie published an interesting article, titled "Scientists Try To Measure Love," for the Los Angeles Times. Here are some excerpts.
* * *
Whatever its reason, there can be little doubt — even from a scientific standpoint — about the potent feelings that being in love elicits.
Arthur Aron, a social psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, has done brain scans on people newly in love and found that after that first magical meeting or perfect first date, a complex system in the brain is activated that is essentially "the same thing that happens when a person takes cocaine."
In one such study, published in 2005, Aron recruited 10 women and seven men who had fallen in love within the last one to 17 months. After taking a brief survey about the relationship (items included statements such as "I melt when looking deeply into ____'s eyes"), participants were put in MRI machines and shown pictures of their beloved, interspersed with pictures of neutral acquaintances. When participants viewed images of their partners, their brains' ventral tegmental area, which houses the reward and motivation systems, was flooded with the chemical dopamine.
"Dopamine is released when you're doing something [highly] pleasurable," like having sex, doing drugs or eating chocolate, says Larry J. Young, a psychiatry professor at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Atlanta's Emory University. Activation of this part of the brain is primarily responsible for causing the sometimes bizarre behavior of new couples, which is linked to motivation and achieving goals: excessive energy, losing sleep, euphoric feelings and, occasionally, anxiety and obsession when they're separated from their objet d'amour.
According to Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and author of "Why Him? Why Her?," the smitten party is acting out of a motivation to "win life's greatest prize — a mating partner for life."
* * *
After the dopamine surge, research suggests that two key hormones — oxytocin and vasopressin — enter the picture, encouraging couples to form emotional bonds.
Oxytocin is released in humans during intimate moments such as prolonged eye contact, hugging and sex. It's also the hormone that causes mothers to bond with their infants. And having been proved to be involved in long-term bonding in prairie voles and, most recently, marmosets, researchers speculate that it plays the same role in humans.
Vasopressin — also linked to bonding in prairie voles — has similarly been linked to bonding in men. A 2008 study showed that a certain genetic variation of a vasopressin receptor was correlated with marital infidelity and fear of commitment.
All the chemicals and hormones released in new love help ensure that we mate and stay together long enough to reproduce or form partnerships for the long term. But once they've subsided, what happens?
Until recently, researchers assumed that most couples eventually settle into what's called companionate love: relationships that are more intimate, more committed — and much less thrilling.
A recent study, however, proved this theory (and years of marriage sitcoms) wrong. Bianca Acevedo, postdoctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara, looked at brain scans of couples claiming to be madly in love after 20 years of marriage. She and her colleagues found that these fortunate folks had the same neural activity observed in newly in love couples, only without the anxiety or obsession.
Acevedo also discovered something that surprised even her: Based on preliminary surveys, this kind of lasting love appears to be present in approximately 30% of married couples in the U.S.
That doesn't mean, though, that those of us who don't fall squarely into that group should throw in the towel. Researchers believe that we have a lot to learn from these happy couples, if only we're willing to do so.
To begin with, a great deal of research shows that doing novel, exciting things together boosts marital happiness. "Take a class together that you know nothing about," suggests Aron, who has co-written several studies in this area. "See a play, go to a new location, go to a horse race." The release of dopamine during these activities might remind couples of how it felt to fall in love or even be happily misattributed to the experience of being together.
* * *
To read the entire article, including a number of excellent suggestions for how to maintain that "lov'n feel'n" click here. To review a sample of related Situationist posts, see "The Situational Effects of Dopamine," "The Situation of Love," "The Color of Sex Appeal," "The Primitive Appeal of The Color Red," "The Magnetism of Beautiful People," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "The Situation of Cupid's Arrow," "How System Threat Affects Cupid," and "The Situation of Flirting."


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Here's what I'm struck by: If, in fact, Kenny Rogers was cheating by using some illegal substance on his hand in the 1st inning, then you also have to be willing to accept a virtual conspiracy of cheating.
If you are willing to question
Tony LaRussa: Who neither pushed the issue at the time nor after the game.
(The fact that people are bringing up LaRussa's friendship with Leyland as the only logical explanation he might go soft in a World Series game instead of asking umps to check Rogers would, if Rogers WAS cheating, qualify LaRussa as a far more devious and devastating corrupter of the game of baseball than Rogers himself. It's bad enough that at the time, LaRussa didn't even QUESTION the APPEARANCE of a problem, which would have -- at the very least -- perhaps gotten into Rogers' head in a perfectly fair piece of gamesmanship.)
The umps: Who didn't push the issue (beyond reportedly -- or not -- asking
Jim Leyland: Who would HAVE to have known about it, particularly if it happened over multiple games. Again, if he willfully participated – even by looking the other way – it is as if he himself was cheating.
(It seems like the only people pushing the issue are analysts in the media, who are the LEAST likely to actually know what happened.)
What does this analysis indicate to me? That Rogers WASN'T cheating, that he COULDN'T have been cheating -- because the 360-degree conspiracy of culpability SURROUNDING him would be so staggering.
On the other hand, there are FAR smarter thinkers than me -- or most people you'll find in mainstream media: Like Baseball Prospectus' Nate Silver, who has the most reasonable analysis to argue that cheating MIGHT be happening. And, naturally, he takes the time to actually use some numbers to back up his analysis, rather than the qualitative b.s. you'll see from me and every other "columnist" out there. Here's the must-read link.


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Today's News: Our Take - The Following's Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
The Following didn't just bring Kevin Bacon to series television for the first time, but it brought him and his co-stars closer together - as in their Bacon numbers.
Check out the scariest TV and movie serial killers
Now that they're working with Bacon, all of their Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon numbers is one, obviously. But what were they before? Bacon did not share the screen with any of his Following co-stars prior to the show and most of them are from a younger generation and/or are newcomers, so you might assume that they'd have a high Bacon number. But based on our findings, aka using Google's handy "Bacon number" tool (type in an actor's name followed by "Bacon number"), that was definitely not the case. Here are the Bacon numbers for the cast pre-Following.
TV couples we want to break up
James Purefoy (Joe): 2
Purefoy starred as the titular character in Solomon Kane with Jason Flemyng, who was Bacon's Hellfire Club right-hand man in X-Men: First Class.
Natalie Zea (Claire): 2
Zea was in The Other Guys with Michael Keaton, who had a cameo in Bacon's She's Having a Baby. Three of her Dirty Sexy Money co-stars, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh and William Baldwin, have also appeared with Bacon in National Lampoon's Animal House, Starting Over and Flatliners, respectively.
Annie Parisse (Debra): 2
Parisse co-starred in Prime with Meryl Streep, who was forced to raft at gunpoint by Bacon in The River Wild.
Shawn Ashmore (Mike): 2
The easiest Bacon number to identify, it's X, or X-Men rather, that marks the spot for these two. Ashmore worked with Hugh Jackman in the original trilogy, and Jackman made a cameo in X-Men: First Class, starring Bacon. Ashmore (and Jackman) will also appear in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will feature many of Bacon's First Class co-stars. Ashmore and Bacon have a non-X-Men degree of separation of two as well: Ashmore starred in The Ruins opposite Jonathan Tucker, who was in Sleepers with Bacon.
Valorie Curry (Emma): 2
Curry appeared in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 with Dakota Fanning, who got kidnapped by Bacon in Trapped.
Nico Tortorella (Jacob): 2
Tortorella starred in Scream 4, from The Following creator Kevin Williamson, with Neve Campbell, who played Bacon and everyone else in Wild Things.
Adan Canto (Paul): 3
The Mexican actor is such a fresh Hollywood face that Google doesn't generate a Bacon number for him, but further investigation shows that his degree of separation is only three. He co-starred in the Mexican film Casi30 with Julio Bekhor, who was in Club Dread with Bill Paxton. Paxton and Bacon were on Apollo 13's lunar mission.
Kyle Catlett (Joey): 3
The child star appeared in the short film The Fort with Jake Weber, who played Kyra Sedgwick's boyfriend in Born on the Fourth of July. Sedgwick is married to Bacon, whom she met on the set of PBS' adaptation of Lemon Sky. They've also starred together in Pyrates, Murder in the First, The Woodsman and Loverboy, and Bacon has directed episodes of The Closer. Another way to Bacon via Weber: Weber co-starred in The Pelican Brief with John Lithgow, who, of course, condemned Bacon's fancy footwork in Footloose.
So what have we learned? The game is right: Bacon is the center of Hollywood. (Duh!) But if that's true and with Google making the game easier than ever to find the shortest link to the actor, perhaps we ought to really test our cinematic knowledge and try to find the largest connection. After all, according to The Oracle of Kevin Bacon, there are three famous folks out there with a Bacon number of nine!
Are you surprised by the Following cast's Bacon numbers? What's the highest Bacon number you can find?
The Following airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.
View original The Following's Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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UK National Lottery Lotto winning numbers for Saturday, October 27, 2012 are
7, 14, 20, 30, 33, 46. The Bonus number is 27.
Lotto is the UK's biggest millionaire-making game. Player simply select 6 numbers from 1 to 49. The Lotto draw takes place every Wednesday and Saturday and six numbers (the main numbers) are drawn, along with one additional number – the bonus number.
Check previous draw results at PortalSeven.com/lottery/. Get more information on the UK National Lottery Lotto numbers, number frequencies, historical numbers, hot & cold numbers :
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- More on UK National Lottery Lotto


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GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by Kisuk LeemClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO responsibility or liability from use of this data.
Download this GPS track as a GPX file
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Time growing desperately short, Senate leaders took command of efforts to avert a Treasury default and end the partial government shutdown Tuesday night after a last big attempt by House Republicans abruptly collapsed.
Aides to both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, expressed revived optimism about chances for a swift agreement — by Wednesday at the latest — that could pass both houses. Their efforts toward a bipartisan resolution had seemed likely to bear fruit a day earlier before House conservative were given a last-minute chance for their version.
As hours ticked down toward Thursday's Treasury deadline, the likeliest compromise included renewed authority for the Treasury to borrow through early February and the government to reopen at least until mid-January.
While a day of secret meetings and frenzied maneuvering unfolded in all corners of the Capitol, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., stood on the Senate floor at midafternoon and declared, "We are 33 hours away from becoming a deadbeat nation, not paying its bills to its own people and other creditors."
In New York, the stock market dropped and the Fitch rating agency warned that it was reviewing the government's AAA credit rating for a possible downgrade, though no action was near. The firm, one of the three leading U.S. credit-ratings agencies, said that "the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default."
According to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, unless Congress acts by Thursday, the government will lose its ability to borrow and will be required to meet its obligations relying only on cash on hand and incoming tax receipts. President Barack Obama and numerous other officials in government and finance have warned of severe economic consequences if federal obligations come due that can't be paid.
By all accounts, though, an end seems near for the impasse that has once again exposed a government so divided that it sometimes borders on dysfunction. Though the House failed to muster sufficient support for a conservatives-only bill in the GOP-majority chamber on Tuesday, enough Republicans there seem likely to join House Democrats to approve a bipartisan version if it can be approved by the Senate and sent to them.
Politically, neither party is faring well, but polls indicate Republicans are bearing the brunt of public unhappiness as survey after survey shows their approval ratings plunging. There was no indication Tuesday night of the terms of a possible deal under discussion by Reid and McConnell, although the contours of an agreement had already come into shape on Monday, before what amounted to a daylong detour to give Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans time to craft their solution.
As it stood previously, the bipartisan Senate talks were focused on a plan to allow the Treasury to borrow freely through Feb. 7 and reopen the government with enough funds to carry over to mid-January.
Congressional negotiators would be appointed to seek a long-term deficit reduction plan, and in the meantime federal agencies would receive increased flexibility to deal with the impact of across-the-board spending cuts due to take effect on about Jan. 15.
With Republicans opposed, the likelihood faded for including an earlier proposal to delay a $63-per-person fee that the nation's health care overhaul would impose on companies for all who receive coverage under an employer-provided plan.
It appeared likely that any deal would include a provision requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to verify the income of individuals seeking federal subsidies to purchase coverage under Obamacare.
Before Tuesday was devoted to the House Republicans' effort, those Senate negotiations had seemed headed for success. House Republican officials unveiled their measure at midmorning, then revised it in hopes of building more support. In its final public form, it would have permitted the Treasury to borrow normally until Feb. 7 and the government to reopen with sufficient funds to carry it to Dec. 15.
Additionally, members of Congress, the president, vice president and thousands of aides would no longer be eligible to receive employer health care contributions from the government that employs them.
The leadership projected confidence, and Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner said in a statement, "The House will vote tonight to reopen the government and avoid default." Within a few hours though, objections came from all corners of the rank and file. And Heritage Action, a group with tea party ties, announced its opposition to the measure it said "will do absolutely nothing to help Americans who are negatively impacted by Obamacare." It said it would include the vote in its determinations next year on which candidates to support in the midterm elections.
That verdict came after Republicans jettisoned a pair of provisions that had drawn objections from the White House and Democrats. One would have delayed a medical device tax created under the new health care law known as Obamacare. The other would have imposed tougher income verification standards on individuals and families seeking subsidies for care under the law.
Democrats had viewed both as concessions to Republicans, and deemed their inclusion as a violation of Obama's vow not to pay a "ransom" to the GOP for passing essential funding and borrowing measures.
The day's events prompted an outbreak of partisan rhetoric, mixed with urgent warnings that both the U.S. and global economies could suffer severe damage quickly unless Congress acted by Thursday. Even something of an appeal for heavenly aid was thrown in, as Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida led House Republicans in a rendition of "Amazing Grace" at the beginning of a rank-and-file meeting called to discuss a way out of the impasse.
Speaking with reporters, Boehner said, "I have made clear for months and months that the idea of default is wrong and we shouldn't get anywhere close to it." Democrats jumped on Boehner and the plan he produced.
In unusually personal remarks, Reid said the Ohio Republican had "once again tried to preserve his role at the expense of the country." That was a reference to a rebellious rank and file in the House, who routinely seek to push Boehner and the rest of the leadership to the right. A group met Monday night with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who last summer played a public role in a campaign to demand defunding of Obamacare as the price for preventing a partial government shutdown.
The Democratic attacks were too much for some Republicans who have been among those most vocal in calling for a bipartisan solution to the impasse. "It's piling on and it's not right," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said of the response from the Democrats. "To categorically reject what the House and the speaker are doing — and I think he's pretty courageous in what he's doing — in my view is not serving the American people."
The House had been effectively sidelined in recent days as Reid and McConnell engaged in intense negotiations to reopen the government and raise the debt limit. The twin crises began more than three weeks ago, when some lawmakers in the House insisted on seeking the defunding of Obamacare as the price for preventing a partial shutdown of the government.
The White House refused, and the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected legislation to achieve the GOP goal, as well as subsequent legislation that contained scaled-back concessions on the health care overhaul.
The partial shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, swiftly merged with the approaching debt crisis. Whatever the outcome, the all-out assault on Obamacare that became a tea party rallying cry last summer was long gone, repulsed by the president and his Democratic allies in Congress.
Instead, Republican disapproval ratings have plummeted in public opinion polls in the past two weeks, vindicating warnings from Boehner, McConnell and other party elders that the original strategy of threatening to shut down the government in hopes of wiping out the overhaul was badly flawed.
Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Andrew Taylor, Henry C. Jackson, Julie Pace, Alan Fram and Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.


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Grandfather Clocks, Wall Clocks, Mantel Clocks AND the rest — all factory-fresh — carry our 110% LOWEST PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE!
For ALL the major brands we sell, 1-800-4CLOCKS will MEET or BEAT any legitimate online offer from ANY Authorized Dealer for that brand of clock. Find a lower price online according to terms and conditions described, and we will match it plus will discount it by 10% of the difference. ADDITIONALLY, if you buy a clock or other item from 1-800-4CLOCKS and within 10 days you find it at a currently available lower price at 1-800-4CLOCKS.com®, call and show us the lower price and we will refund the difference.
Note: If you buy from an unauthorized dealer, your manufacturer's warranty will not be valid!
Please note, this applies to ALL our clocks such as Howard Miller, Ridgeway, Kieninger, Hermle, Bulova and even includes special editions such as Anniversary or Commemorative editions. However, this does not apply to discontinued, floor samples, or if you accept one of our financing offers. Any other possible rebates would also need to be addressed in good faith.
(Please Call Us & Ask Us If You Wonder How We Can Guarantee Free In Home Setup Across The Entire USA!) 1-800-4CLOCKS Offers FREE SETUP of your Grandfather Clock in your home (or Office) ANYWHERE within the USA for any New Grandfather Clock Purchase over US $1,000, whether chain-driven or cable-driven. For Customers outside of the USA (including Alaska & Hawaii), please email us as to how to obtain set-up assistance if desired. This Service Applies to new Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks, new Hermle Grandfather Clocks, Bulova Grandfather Clocks, Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks and new Kieninger Grandfather Clocks only -- NOT Antique Grandfather Clocks.
Free In Home Setup is available only in the Continental US (48 States).
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For orders under USD $100.00 within the USA and to CANADA, we charge a flat fee of $15.
All orders within the Continental USA 48 States AND CANADA over US$100 automatically qualify for Free Shipping. All other international shipments (and to Alaska and Hawaii) will be calculated after the order is placed. Our checkout system (outside of the Continental USA & Canada) may require that you call us before you can place any order online. This is so we can offer the best possible prices, with you paying only the actual shipping cost.
No US Sales Tax! Ever! If you ship to a New York address, WE'LL PAY the tax for you.
We encourage all our New York city tri-state area residents and organizations to contact us for a visit to our midtown manhattan store, or call us, to see first-hand the benefits of shopping with us in NYC! (Note: local tax laws may apply in Canada.)
At 1-800-4CLOCKS, we strive to add value to meet all of our customers' financing needs, and to make ordering from us as positive experience as possible. That is why we offer TWO financing options.
Note: Both financed options of mechanical grandfather clocks includes both FREE Shipping and FREE In-Home set-up ACROSS THE ENTIRE USA (excludes Alaska and Hawaii). (Excludes quartz models where we ask our customers to first make a good-faith effort at self-set-up as the majority of customers can easily set these up by themselves. If an issue, it is something we can address with you.)
Six (6) Month Zero Percent Financing (subject to PayPal's Terms and Conditions).
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Depending upon the price point and subject to their Credit Approval, you will be eligible for 6 Months of 0% Financing -- No payment for 6 months, with Zero Interest (full payment due at end of 6 month period).
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We are able to offer Klarna Credit at this time for purchases from us through financing we have in place with Klarna Credit DURING OUR ONLINE CHECKOUT PROCESS. One main advantage of Klarna Credit is that flexible payment plans of up to 18 months may be made available to qualified customers using Klarna Credit during our checkout process. It is important to note that Klarna purchases will be subject to interest rates and terms disclosed by Klarna during the checkout process. Please read the Klarna Credit Terms and Conditions which may be offered carefully before agreeing.
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Today's Gospel reading–by the Apostle whose Feast we celebrate today, John–explains how His followers discovered that the Lord had risen [indeed]:
Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag'dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.
Here are some highlights of St John's resume:
- Described by Jesus, along with his brother James, as "the sons of thunder" and "the disciple whom Jesus loved"
- Wrote one Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse
And yet, John "saw and believed." Not saw and confirmed what he had long suspected, etc. The last sentence is striking partly due to its brevity. In today's Magnificat, Pope Benedict gives us perspective:
One doesn't begin to be a Christian because of an ethical decision or a great idea, but rather because of an encounter with an event, with a Person, who gives new horizons to life, and with that, a decisive orientation.
The point is that John's thoughts [even John!] on resurrection, don't even warrant a mention when describing His Resurrection. There are many ways to communicate the 'it's not about you' aspect of Christianity. John shows us one way, by way of omission.
Imagine the last sentence in that Gospel reading according to a Secular Humanist:
… I saw and it confirmed my long-held beliefs, stated mostly in private, about how I saw this playing out. I repeat my premonitions not to elevate myself and those like me who have also borne many of the scars for our cause, but to show that perhaps the truth does not belong to any one of us. I say this not to cause dissension, since I can personally attest to His greatness, but to begin a much needed dialogue. While lacking explicit authority, aside from having been present during much of the ministry, I believe the following to my core; perhaps His special genius was in getting all of us to trust our own inner-voices….


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DETROIT – In 1860, an uneasy Charles Darwin confided in a letter to a friend: 'I had no intention to write atheistically' but 'I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars.' What appalled him had fascinated entomologist William Kirby (1759-1850): The ichneumon insect inserts an egg in a caterpillar, and the larva hatched from the egg, he said, 'gnaws the inside of the caterpillar, and though at last it has devoured almost every part of it except the skin and intestines, carefully all this time (BEG ITAL)avoids injuring the vital organs(END ITAL), as if aware that its own existence depends on that of the insect on which it preys!'
Government employees' unions living parasitically on Detroit have been less aware than ichneumon larvae. About them, and their collaborators in the political class, the question is: What. Were. They. Thinking? Well, how did Bernie Madoff or the Enron executives convince themselves their houses of cards would never collapse?
Here, where cattle could graze in vast swaths of this depopulated city, democracy ratified a double delusion: Magic would rescue the city (consult the Bible, the bit about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes), or Washington would deem Detroit, as it recently did some banks and two of the three Detroit-based automobile companies, 'too big to fail.' But Detroit failed long ago. And not even Washington, whose recklessness is (BEG ITAL)almost(END ITAL) limitless, is oblivious to the minefield of moral hazard it would stride into if it rescued this city and, then inevitably, others that are buckling beneath the weight of their cumulative follies. It is axiomatic: When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate.
This bedraggled city's decay poses no theological conundrum of the sort that troubled Darwin, but it does pose worrisome questions about the viability of democracy in jurisdictions where big government and its unionized employees collaborate in pillaging taxpayers. Self-government has failed in what once was America's fourth-largest city and now is smaller than Charlotte, N.C.
Detroit, which boomed during World War II when industrial America was 'the arsenal of democracy,' died of democracy. Today, among the exculpatory alibis invoked to deflect blame from the political class and the docile voters who empowered it, is the myth that Detroit is simply a victim of 'de-industrialization.' In 1950, however, Detroit and Chicago were comparable — except Detroit was probably wealthier, as measured by per capita income. Chicago, too, lost manufacturing jobs, to the American South, to south of the border, to South Korea and elsewhere. But Chicago discerned the future and diversified. It is grimly ironic that Chicago's iconic street is Michigan Avenue.
Detroit's population, which is 62 percent smaller than in 1950, has contracted less than the United Auto Workers membership, which was more than 1 million in 1950, and now is around 390,000. Auto industry executives, who often were invertebrate mediocrities, continually bought labor peace by mortgaging their companies' futures in surrenders to union demands. Then city officials gave their employees — who have (BEG ITAL)47(END ITAL) unions, including one for crossing guards — pay scales comparable to those of autoworkers. Thus did private-sector decadence drive public-sector dysfunction — government negotiating with government-employees' unions that are government organized as an interest group to lobby itself to do what it wants to do: Grow.
Steven Rattner, who administered the bailout of part of the Detroit-based portion of America's automobile industry, says 'apart from voting in elections, the 700,000 remaining residents of the Motor City are no more responsible for Detroit's problems than were the victims of Hurricane Sandy for theirs.' Congress, he says, should bail out Detroit because 'America is just as much about aiding those less fortunate as it is about personal responsibility.'
There you have today's liberalism: Human agency, hence responsibility, is denied. Apart from the pesky matter of 'voting in elections' — apart from decades of voting to empower incompetents, scoundrels and criminals, and to mandate unionized rapacity — no one is responsible for anything. Popular sovereignty is a chimera because impersonal forces akin to hurricanes are sovereign.
The restoration of America's vitality depends on, among many other things, avoiding the bottomless sinkhole that would be created by the federal government rescuing one-party cities, and one-party states such as Illinois, from the consequences of unchecked power. Those consequences of such power — incompetence, magical thinking, cynicism, and sometimes criminality — are written in Detroit's ruins.
George Will's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.